Wordless (ish) Wednesday ~ Daily Vegas

Squish and BobBob's Welcome Home picture.

  

 

We have made it a tradition to take one when he leave, and one when he is home.

That way Squish can always see how sad his Daddy was to leave him, and how happy he was to be home.

Happy Wednesday!

Other Wordless Wednesdays:


Angry Julie Monday

Parenting By Dummies

5 Minutes for Mom

A Beautiful Mess

Live and Love Out Loud

Easy Way to Give Back!

Are you looking for ways to give back this holiday season?

How would you like a super simple way to make a big difference?

Nuk has teamed up with Operation Smile to donate $10,000 to children who really need a smile this holiday season!  

For every person that registers at Nuk the company will donate $1.  Sign up, and spread the word!  Let's give some children a special smile this holiday season.

Nuk has been working with children who have cleft lips or a cleft palate and have designed a special line of products to help these children who have trouble using a standard bottle.

In case you didn't know, Operation Smile provides free surgeries to repair cleft lip, cleft palate, and other facial deformities.  Often children who are born with severe cleft conditions are unable to eat, speak, socialize, or even smile.  In some places these children are shunned or rejected.  More often their parents just can't afford the surgeries to give their child a normal life.

Through the help of medical volunteers, Operation Smile has been providing free surgeries for children around the world since 1982!

This is a super simple way to give back this holiday season and make a difference for children who really need it.

To learn more about Operation Smile, head over to their webpage.

Toddler Wonderland Winners!!

All winners choosen by Random.Org

AND THE WINNERS ARE:

BabyPop Designs

Not Quite Susie – comment 13

Rock Me Baby Records Christmas Album - 2 winners

Tutus & Trucks – comment 4

Robynl – comment 33

RubaDub Buddies

Josh & Calendi - comment 53

Playskool Weebles

Nerakasil03 – comment 99 

Little Scholastic

Out of 822 combined entries is KCB comment 64

Scrapping Your Way 

And the Grand Prize winner of the $250 Scrapping Your Way scrapbook and service is Ashley comment #221

The winner of our Toddler Talk Holiday Photo Challenge is Mandalyn and the Stinky Cheese!  Congratulations, you won a photo touch up or blog banner creation from The Paper Mama!

Congrats to all Winners!!  And Thanks to all who entered!!

All winners have 48 hours to respond to the email they have been sent.  After which time a new winner may be chosen and emailed.

Merry Christmas ~ Happy Holidays

Have you done your Christmas Cards yet? Now that the Hubs is home, I can't wait to get ours done FINALLY!!

But in honor of our first family photo taken yesterday - I give to you:

Family and Life in Las Vegas 1st ever Christmas Card!

I can't believe Christmas is already only 25 days away!!

Kidtoons ~ Curious George Giveaway!

I just love Kidtoons! They are dedicated to bring fun and affordable family movies to theaters every weekend.

Did you know that every month they have coloring sheets that correspond with that months movie, so you can continue the family fun at home!

You can even submit your coloring sheets to win a fun Kidtoons prize. And don't forget to sign your children up for a free movie on their birthday at the Kidtoons Birthday Club!

This month's Movie is:

Curious George ~ A Very Monkey Christmas!

George and The Man with The Yellow Hat are having a very merry time counting down the days until Christmas. There's only one puzzle: neither of them can figure out what to give the other for a present. The Man is having trouble reading George's wish list and George doesn't have a clue about what to get for The Man who has everything. Will they be able to find the answers before Christmas morning?

The Giveaway

Kidtoons is generously offering ONE Lucky Family and Life in Las Vegas Reader a Curious George Prize Pack. This includes:

• 1 Curious George Book
• 1 Curious George DVD
• 1 Curious George poster

How to Win

Entering is easy – all you have to do is the mandatory entry. Extra entries are available but not mandatory. Please make sure to leave your email in your comment, or I will not be able to contact you about your win, and will have to choose another winner. I will be checking each entry to the best of my ability, so honesty is appreciated!

Mandatory Entry

Kidtoons wants to know what your little kiddo is most curious about these days? You must also be a follower of Family and Life in Las Vegas. Please leave one (1) comment saying you have done both of these things. (This is the only mandatory entry. The other entries below are EXTRA.)

Extra Entries

Follow Family and Life in Las Vegas via GFC, Facebook, and Twitter. (1 entry for each)

Follow Kidtoons on Facebook and Twitter and leave a comment saying you came from Family and Life in Las Vegas. (1 entry for each)

Since I recently just made the switch to a new Facebook page - for any friend you send to the page, you can have 1 extra entry! Send 10 friends - get 10 entries. Just have them leave a comment saying you sent them on my page.

Subscribe to Family and Life in Las Vegas via email or RSS. (Upper Right-hand Corner) (2 entries each)

Tweet/Facebook this Giveaway and leave a comment with the link. (1 entry each) (can be done daily)

"#win a @Kidtoonfilms Curious George #giveaway from @FamilyNLifeLV! ends 12/14 http://bit.ly/kidtoons-george Pls RT "

Grab my Button and comment with the link to where I can find it. (2 entries)

Add this giveaway to a giveaway linky and comment with the link (5 entries)

If you would like I would love for you to vote on Top Mommy Blogs and Picket Fences while you are here. No entries for this, just a big YOU ROCK for each vote!

This Giveaway is open to US entrants only and ends on 12/14 at 9 pm PST. The winner will be chosen via Random.Org and notified via email. The winner has 48 hours to respond or another winner will be picked. Good Luck!

My Brest Friend Nursing Stool ~ Review and Giveaway

When I was at the ABC Kids Expo I sought out My Brest Friend to personally tell them how much I LOVE their nursing pillow.

Seriously, Love - it was one of the products that made breastfeeding a little easier for me. Unlike other nursing pillows I didn't have to slouch over to get a correct latch.

While I was talking to Jessica she showed me their newest product, The Adjustable Nursing Stool! Designed to make nursing a more comfortable experience by allowing you to adjust the level of your knees. A comfortable nursing position will in turn reduce strain on your neck, shoulders, back and wrists. Some of the unique features this little stool provide you are: (From My Brest Friend)

• Adjustable to different angles for optimum nursing support
• Provides comfortable positioning for breastfeeding
• Alleviates stress on you back, shoulders and neck
• Becomes a step stool after nursing
• To use adjust the stool to the desired angle and turn knobs securely into place.

Unfortunately, I was right at the end of our breastfeeding career when I received the stool to review, but I can tell you it has been uses for many things since I got it. (Which is great, bc it isn't just a product you buy for one use, and put away after!)

• Putting my feet up while I type on my laptop.
• Standing to get the items above the kitchen fridge that are just a little out of reach.
• Rocking at night while Squish was sick. (It really does make rocking easier.)
• And of course Squish thinks it is the perfect size for his little bum!

Here he is using it as a drum! He loves that it is just his size!

Seriously, my Squishy loves this stool. I imagine it will be used to access the sink in the future, as well as continue to be his little perch. I am looking forward to using it with any more children we have. Simply using it for Rocking the Squish, I can already tell how much more comfortable it will make breastfeeding.

On the Squishy Rating Scale the My Brest Friend Adjustable Nursing Stool gets a VERY SQUISHABLE!

The Giveaway

My Brest Friend is giving one lucky Family and Life in Las Vegas reader their very own adjustable nursing stool! This would be a great prize for any nursing mom, a mom with young children, a gift for a baby shower, or even someone who spend a great deal of time behind a desk!

How to Win

Entering is easy – all you have to do is the mandatory entry. Extra entries are available but not mandatory. Please make sure to leave your email in your comment, or I will not be able to contact you about your win, and will have to choose another winner. I will be checking each entry to the best of my ability, so honesty is appreciated!

Mandatory Entry

Head over to the My Brest Friend and tell me something you learned about the company, or how you would use this nursing stool. You must also be a follower of Family and Life in Las Vegas. Please leave one (1) comment saying you have done both of these things. (This is the only mandatory entry. The other entries below are EXTRA.)

Extra Entries

Follow Family and Life in Las Vegas via GFC, Facebook, and Twitter. (1 entry for each)

Follow My Brest Friend on Facebook and leave a comment saying you came from Family and Life in Las Vegas. (1 entry)

Since I recently just made the switch to a new Facebook page - for any friend you send to the page, you can have 1 extra entry! Send 10 friends - get 10 entries. Just have them leave a comment saying you sent them on my page.

Subscribe to Family and Life in Las Vegas via email or RSS. (Upper Right-hand Corner) (2 entries each)

Tweet/Facebook this Giveaway and leave a comment with the link. (1 entry each) (can be done daily)

"#win a My Brest Friend nursing stool #giveaway from @FamilyNLifeLV! ends 12/14 http://bit.ly/brestfriend Pls RT "

Grab my Button and comment with the link to where I can find it. (2 entries)

Add this giveaway to a giveaway linky and comment with the link (5 entries)

If you would like I would love for you to vote on Top Mommy Blogs and Picket Fences while you are here. No entries for this, just a big YOU ROCK for each vote!

Disclosure: I received an adjustable nursing stool to review. No monetary compensation was given. All opinions are 100% my own, and may differ from yours.

This Giveaway is open to US entrants only and ends on 12/14 at 9 pm PST. The winner will be chosen via Random.Org and notified via email. The winner has 48 hours to respond or another winner will be picked. Good Luck!

Tales from The Scale Sunday - Week 2

Well, Please forgive me - I have never Vlogged before... here goes nothing.

My Thanksgiving dinner!!
(There is Fat Free Italian Dressing on the Christmas Salad)

If you are interested in learning more about Nutrisystem, or want to join, you can do so HERE or call 800-853-4689. All products have been provided to me free of charge as a selected blogger of the Nutrisystem Nation Blogger Program. My opinions are 100% honest and my own and my differ from yours. No monetary compensation was given for my opinion.

Daily Vegas ~ Daddy is HOME!

I can't believe I am still up, but I suppose it is the excitement of having the hubs home. He is currently SNORING loudly next to me - Ahhh! The sweet sound of a hubby home!

Squishy took a late nap, and managed to stay up way past his bedtime to wait for daddy. And boy oh boy, was the Hubs happy to see him! So much has changed in 6 months!

My favorite part was when Squish said "Hi there Bob Bob!" (He has never really called the Hubs Dada or Daddy. I am sure that will change now that he is talking more, but I know Daddy doesn't mind one bit! In fact he thinks it is cute!)

I can tell you Squish loved having his "Bob Bob" home. He has already shared several hugs and a couple sloppy kisses. Not to mention he had to show off some of his new tricks!

Tomorrow we are off to the circus. Hopefully the Hubs will be okay. I know - not the best timing, but it is for Squish so he is going to try.

Other than a few pre-written posts and the announcement of the Toddler Wonderland Winners (Tomorrow is the last day to enter!!), I am probably going to be absent for a few days, which I am sure you can understand!

So happy to have my family back together! Now I am going to attempt to fall asleep next to my sweet chainsawing hubby! Love that man!

Toddler Wonderland Tutorial ~ Nikki @ The Perils of a Working Mom

Are you ready for a fun craft to do with your toddler?

Nikki from The Perils of a Working Mom has a fun craft to do with your little one! It's super easy and inexpensive too!

Craft time can be a fun way to spend a cold winter day with your toddler. However, if you choose and activity that is too difficult or requires too much adult participation, your toddler is likely to get bored or frustrated very quickly.

Crafts for toddlers are usually best if they don’t have a lot of specific steps or a lot of wait time. No doubt, if you have a toddler, you’ve noticed that they don’t have a lot of patience, so having to wait for paint to dry to move on to the next step may cause a melt down, and I’m not talking about a hot glue melt down!

Basic art activities, such as finger painting are usually a fun activity for toddlers because they are usually very much into tactile experiences at this age. (Have a paint brush handy, just incase you have one of those toddlers that doesn’t like to get dirty!) Spreading glue onto paper and sticking items (foam shapes etc.) is a good activity that also helps to develop fine motor skills. And of course, the old stand by of coloring is always a hit if you aren’t into anything more involved!

Your child’s masterpieces from any of these activities make great gifts for grandparents and other relatives. Put a piece of artwork in a frame with a photo in one corner and it is something that grandma will cherish forever. Painting and colorings can also be cut into smaller holiday shapes and used to make holiday greeting cards.

Here is an easy craft; that anyone, of any crafting ability can easily do with a toddler. Most of the items required you may already have at home, if not, a quick trip to your local dollar store and you will be set!

Holiday Sun Catcher

This craft can be modified for ANY holiday, celebration or theme that you desire.

Materials:

Cardstock or construction paper

Colored tissue paper or other type of semi transparent paper, cut or torn into small pieces

Glitter (optional)

Clear contact paper

Scissors, pencil

Adult Preparation:

1) Draw a simple holiday shape in the middle piece of paper.

2) From the center of your paper, cut out the shape, leaving the outside of the paper intact to form the frame of your sun catcher.

3) Cut 2 pieces of contact paper, each slightly smaller than your paper.

4) Remove backing from contact paper and adhere to one side of paper.

** If you aren’t ready for your child to do the craft right away, reapply the contact paper’s backing sheet to protect it until you are ready.

This is what your prepared Sun Catcher should look like. (With backing paper in place)

Directions for Child

1) Give the prepared sun catcher to your toddler. Remove backing paper. Show them that the opening is sticky.

2) Give them a pile of tissue paper pieces. Show them how to stick it to the contact paper.

3) Allow your child to put on as much or as little tissue paper as they wish. It doesn’t have to be all flat or completely stuck.

4) When they are finished, you can add glitter if you want. Assuming that you don’t want your entire house covered in glitter for all of eternity, I recommend that you apply the glitter or put it into a saltshaker for your toddler to shake on!

Adult Finishing Touches

When your child is finished, cover the tissue paper and glitter with the second piece of contact paper to hold everything in place and protect the masterpiece.

Hang the sun catcher in a window for all to admire!

I hope that you enjoy doing holiday crafts with your toddlers this year! Happy Holidays to everyone!

Head over to Nikki's Blog and let her know how much you enjoyed her project. Then come back to this post and let me know you did so. You can have 4 extra entries into Toddler Wonderland for doing so!

Holiday Meme to Win a Mint Cleaner!

Jen over at Tatertots and Jello and Beckie at Infarrantly Creative are hosting a Holiday Meme Party! And the fun part of this party is that everyone who participates has a chance to win a Mint Floor Cleaner. Now I have been drooling over this adorable little machine since I saw it come out - so I figured I had to link up on this one!! There is a list of four questions you can write a post about, I chose this one!

* Are you more of a Black Friday or Cyber Monday girl? Tell us about your best deal or your craziest shopping story.


Since I ventured out last night for Black Friday, I guess this year I am a Black Friday kinda girl. Now we got a Leap Frog My First Computer (which I may save for Squishy's birthday bc he is quite young for it still) and a Little people train set for Squish.

While we saved over 50% on them, we waited in line for almost 2 hours waiting to check out. We didn't get to bed until 4am! Squish was a trooper, and even slept in with us until 10am.

But... next Christmas, I am going to try my luck on Cyber Monday instead.


I am participating in Infarrantly Creative and Tatertots and Jello’s Blog Hop for a chance to win a Mint Cleaner. It is the revolutionary machine that cleans your hard floor surfaces for you.

Click here to join the blog hop and a chance to win!

The Mint Cleaner is available at the following places:

Amazon

The Mint Cleaner

HSN

Bed, Bath & Beyond

Toddler Wonderland Tutorial ~ Schnitzel and Boo

Toddler Wonderland: Crafting a Christmas Ornament-and-Card Combo

By: Schnitzel & Boo

www.schnitzelandboo.etsy.com

www.schnitzelandboo.com

www.schnitzelandboo.blogspot.com

I have an almost-two-year-old daughter named Remy who loves to do anything creative: dance, scribble, hop, sing, wiggle, twirl etc. I was excited to try this project with her because this was the very first time that she had ever done anything like it. This was basically her very first art project. My mom did something similar with me and my sister when we were close to Remy’s age. Because this was our first time getting artsy-craftsy together, I enlisted my mom’s expertise. It was a lot of fun for all of us to recreate something that I did as a child.

For this project, we chose toddler-friendly crafting materials to help ease any frustrations that may arise. We wanted to keep the ornaments simple, yet engaging for the child-something to help encourage that proud feeling of accomplishment. We decided on chenille sticks, round rhinestones, multi-colored mini puff balls, snowflakes and sequins. You could also use buttons, scraps of felt or fabric, confetti, pieces of ribbon, beads etc., anything that you have in your craft supplies.

Gather your supplies, you will need:

-Pen

-Craft Foam or Felt

-Tablecloth, newspaper or a work mat to cover your crafting surface

-scissors

-glue

-blank folded cards

-tree template

-snowman template

-hole punch or Crop-O-Dile and eyelets

-double sided tape

-sequins, rhinestones, chenille sticks, buttons, puff balls etc for decorations

(OPTIONAL SUPPLIES)

-ruler

-magnets

-ribbon

-clear vinyl

-popsicle sticks

-felt scraps

Set up your supplies while your toddler is occupied with someone else or having a nap. This will help make sure that you have everything that you need and you won’t be running off in the middle of the project to grab the glue.

Trace your templates onto the back side of the craft foam and cut out before introducing your toddler to all the shiny, pretty things on the table. They’re like magpies and you’ll end up doing what I did: performing fancy save-the-flying-rhinestone maneuvers with a pair of sharp scissors and a half cut foam tree in your hands. Not exactly a smooth move on my part! (Cut the circle out of the tree to turn your ornament into a picture frame. Just glue a piece of clear vinyl to the back of the tree, add a picture and then attach a second tree to it.)

Punch a hole in the top of the tree and, if you’re using a Crop-O-Dile tool, set an eyelet in the hole for reinforcement. Hopefully, the grandparents will go bonkers over this super cute little work-of-art that your toddler is about to create and the tree (or snowman!) will hang proudly on the Christmas tree for years to come! Tie a ribbon through the eyelet and you’re ready to start!

Have your child decorate her tree or snowman with the decorations you have set out. I put a variety of decorations in my hand and let Remy choose which ones she wanted to use. It was easier for her to pick them up from my hand than it was to try and pick them up from the table.

Allow your child to put her decorations wherever she wants them on her tree. It is so much fun for them and for you to see their creations come to life. They don’t care if the sequins are all on top of each other, or if a rhinestone is upside down! They are using their imagination and creating an endearing keepsake.

Have your toddler decorate as many trees and snowmen as they’d like!

When you’re all done, glue all of the pieces down and admire your Toddler Picasso’s work!

Attach the ornament to the front of a blank card for a card-and-gift in one! Her grandparents, aunts and uncles, family friends and neighbors are going to love it!

Thank you to much to Kristi for this wonderful and creative guest post!

Make sure you check out her sites for more goodies! If you leave her a kind comment - come back to this post and let me know you did. You can then have 4 extra entries into the giveaway of your choice!!